A nutrition survey of the elderly : report by the Panel on Nutrition of the Elderly.

  • Great Britain. Panel on Nutrition of the Elderly
Date:
1972
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: A nutrition survey of the elderly : report by the Panel on Nutrition of the Elderly. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    6.3.4. A third group of 24 subjects was distinguishable for whom, because of the nature of the non-nutritional diseases with which they were afflicted, there seemed little or no prospect of securing improvements in health simply by supplying more food. Some had low intakes because their activity was restricted by diseases such as strokes or generalised crippling arthritis. In others the desire for food was considered as likely to be restricted by mental depression or by gastrointestinal disease. In this group only 1 out of 11 subjects had a borderline serum albumin concentration of 3-5 g/100 ml] and only 2 had reduced serum pseudocholinesterase activity out of the 15 tested. 6.3.5. A further 17 had some condition which impeded preparation or consump- tion of food, such as failing vision or osteoarthritis of the hands. Nine of these had low skinfold measurements. Out of 13 whose serum albumin was measured 4 had low levels and of these 3 had also a lowered serum pseudocholinesterase. One other whose serum albumin was not measured also had a low pseudo- cholinesterase result. 6.3.6. Finally, 7 subjects, of whom 5 were 75 or over, were grouped as suffering from “‘senile degenerative states’’. One refused medical examination. Of the others, 4 were very thin, 2 had reduced pseudocholinesterase levels and 1 of these had a low serum albumin value; 1 other with a “‘normal’’ pseudocholinesterase level also showed low serum albumin concentration. 6.3.7. Low energy consumers are of interest from the point of view of the methodology of dietary surveys. Low intakes of one or other nutrients are often encountered and it is impossible as a rule to say to what extent this is due to some inadequacy of the method employed (such as too short a period of observation), or to extremes of individual variation in physiological require- ments, or to true deficiencies of intakes compared with requirements. In this group the frequency with which low values for skinfold measurements and for serum pseudocholinesterase occurred was greater to a statistically significant degree than in the whole sample, although this did not apply to the frequency of low serum albumin levels. The exclusion from consideration of those subjects who were deliberately restricting their energy intake led to a further increase in the proportion whose biochemical and physical measurements were indicative of undernutrition; it is therefore fair to infer that some of the low energy consumers were indeed undernourished. How many cannot, of course, be said, since we are dealing with a condition-of which the parameters shade off into normality. 6.3.8. Considering that many of these subjects who ate little food were receiving much smaller than average amounts of most nutrients, it is of interest that only 6 of the 88 having low energy intakes were diagnosed as mal- nourished by the clinicians. 6.3.9. The biochemistry of the group tends to support the clinicians. Serum albumin and pseudocholinesterase results have already been considered. The